Rise of the Guardians
by JennaGreenleaf
Summary: This is the novelization of the Rise of the Guardians movie, but with a bit more stuff to make it more interesting to a wider age group. Enjoy!
1. Shaken

I do not own Rise of the Guardians, and though I own a copy of the official movie novelization, I do not own the story itself.

I recently purchased a copy of the movie novelization, and though I know it was meant for children, one thing that struck me was how juvenile the writing style was. So I decided (no offense to the author) to make it more suitable for a larger audience, because not only children loved Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 1 - Shaken

_It was cold._

Long ago, the surface of a frozen pond cracked when Jack Frost rose out of the icy water. He floated as if suspended by trick wires, up over the surface until he was lowered back to the icy surface of the pond. He was thin, pale, and barefoot. He wore hunter's trousers and a cloak of deer skin, but he didn't know that. His white hair glistened like silver fire as he turned is head, taking in his surroundings. Nothing was familiar, not even his own reflection in the ice.

_ He was scared._

Jack looked up at the sky. Somehow, the only thing that was familiar was the glowing orb above him. _The moon. It was so big, and it was so bright, and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did…he wasn't scared anymore. _

Jack took a step forward. It wasn't cold anymore as his bare feet padded along the surface of the pond. Another cautious step and his toe hit something. He reached down to pick up a long branch, more of a staff than anything. From his fingertips, glowing bluish frost spread along the entire length of the wood, twisting like the last leaf of fall meandering on the first breath of winter's first storm.

Jack nearly dropped the staff in his surprise. As the base of the staff came in contact with the surface of the pond, the same icy tendrils that had spun out from his fingertips shot out across the ice. Almost involuntarily, Jack shook his head. What was going on?

Experimenting, he touched the staff to a tree. It sent a stream of frost up the trunk.

The staff was magical, but not only that. _He_ was magical, too. A slight stumble on the slick surface of the pond sent him cartwheeling into the air, held aloft only by the wind. It whispered to him as it tossed him around, and then promptly dropped him.

Jack bounced off branch after branch until he finally managed to grab hold of one. From his position far above the ground, Jack saw a small town. He crouched on the limb for a second longer, holding his crouched position like a cat. Trusting the wind to catch him, he flung himself off the branch and back into the sky. Perhaps he would be able to find some answers in the town.

The wind set Jack down by a group of settlers, warming themselves by a fire. "Hello," he greeted, "Hello. Good evening."

The townspeople walked by Jack as if he wasn't there at all.

"Ma'am?" He stopped beside a young woman with dark hair. She didn't seem to see him.

He knelt to be at eye level with a young boy, "Excuse me. Can you tell me where I am?"

The boy didn't stop, and ran right through Jack.

"Hello! Hello!" Jack shouted. There wasn't even an echo of response.

It was then Jack realized he was invisible. No one could hear him, no one could see him.

Around him, a light snow began to fall. His fear was the cause, though he did not know how he knew that.

Shaken, Jack returned to the forest. He settled in a bank of snow on the shore of his pond. He could easily see the hole from which he had emerged, but his gaze was drawn back to the sky, to the moon.

_Jack Frost._

That was his name. For a long time, that was all he knew. It was all the moon had ever told him. As the years passed him by, Jack began to wonder why.

_Why was he created? Why was he abandoned?_

But most importantly, _what was he supposed to do?_

~~~~~300 years later~~~~~

North's fortress was hidden far away in the—well, in the north. Nestled in the corner of a glacier, it looked out over a valley of ice. It was high enough up the glacier that North was safe from attack from the back, and anyone who approached from the front was spotted well in advance.

North did not receive many visitors. Few knew of the existence of the palace in the ice, and even fewer knew its master as 'North.' Santa Claus's palace was enormous, crowded, busy, noisy—and the world's best kept secret.

To the rest of the world, North was known as Santa.

To be allowed past the huge double doors and into the Workshop was a privilege allotted to a select few. At any given time, North's famous (and massive) red coat and matching cap cast long shadows across the floor in the ever-shining light of the midnight sun. North himself worked in a corner office, and was never seen without a huge block of ice.

North raised a chainsaw to the block of ice. A tattoo decorated his forearm, displaying the 'Naughty' list in ancient characters. Sharp bits of frozen water splattered through the Workshop as he worked.

Three elves in red suits topped with bells stood in the Workshop's doorway, munching on the cookies meant for North.

"Still waiting for cookies!" North's deep, Russian-accented voice boomed through the vast space of his workshop, prompting his elves to scramble to return the cookies to their plate.

His little helpers scooted out of the way as North flopped back into his rolling chair and then reached out toward a rack of work tools. Grabbing a tiny hammer, he pushed up his sleeves and bent over his masterpiece, displaying a tattoo on his other arm, reading "Nice."

With delicate and precise movements, North made a few final cuts into the ice block. When the sculpture was complete, North raised the frozen locomotive he'd created and placed it carefully on a frozen track. The train roared to life, belching chilly vapour before chugging away.

North selected a cookie from the plate. He watched with wide eyes as his toy hit a loop and then launch into the air. Wings unfolded from the ice and a jet engine sizzled to action.

In watching the toy soar around his Workshop, North jumped as the door to the Workshop burst open with a heavy bang and crashed into the flying train. The ice train crashed to the ground, sliding across the floor in a million pieces.

A huge, hairy, abominable snowman flung himself into the room. The yeti had a worried expression across his furry brow; one North immediately took note of.

North stared down at the toy, shaking his head.

The yeti began to shout, "Arghbal…"

"How many times have I told you to knock?" North asked with a sigh, spinning towards the door to face the huge beast.

"Warga blarghgha!" the yeti replied.

"What?" North narrowed his eyes. He jumped to his feet, already moving out of the room, "The Globe?" he drew his sword from its sheath as he went.

Outside his office North pushed through a crowd of panicking elves. The bells on their hats jingled as North passed by. He shouldered through a crowd of yetis, all with their eyes fixed on one thing.

The Globe of Belief sat in the center of his fortress. Its diameter was twice North's considerable height, and it was covered with blazing light. Tiny bulbs blanketed each continent, each representing a child who believed.

"Shoo, with your pointy heads!" North called out to the elves, threatening to crush them with each of his large, quick steps, "Why are you always underboot?"

"What is this?" North asked the yeti who had reported the problem. Hundreds of lights were dark. Squinting at the Globe, North was shocked as more and more lights turned off. It was as if someone, or some_thing_, was shutting them down by the thousands.

"Have you checked the axis?" North barked to his yetis, "Is the rotation balanced?"

Bobbing his head, the closest yeti nodded, "Wardle bawddrel."

A gust of wind blew in through the open skylight. It brought with it a blanket of sand, black as pitch and just as foreboding. The sand crept over the lights, snuffing them out in large blocks until the entire Globe was covered.

A chorus of bells and screams rose up as the elves went into hysterics.

Gritty darkness swirled off the Globe and filled the room, funneling upwards into a massive twister. The twister spun towards the ceiling and burst into a puff of smoke, gone as quickly as it had come.

The room settled into tense silence. Not even the elves dared move.

One by one, the lights on the Globe returned, and everything seemed to return to normal…until the shadow appeared. Long and dark, the shadow of a man flitted across the floor, dashed up the walls and circled the Globe, before disappearing with an echoing laugh.

North stared at the place where the shadow ad disappeared, "Can it be?" he muttered. He called to one of his elves, "Dingle!"

The elf appeared at North's side.

"Make preparations," North directed, "We are going to have company!"

The elf nodded as North reached out to grasp a large lever. He twisted a dial and pulled down hard. The Globe began to glow and a beam of light zoomed up the axis shaft, towards the roof, and out into the world. Four strands of _Aurora Borealis_ twisted their way towards four different places, towards four different people.

For the first time in decades, North had summoned the Guardians to the Pole.


	2. The Guardians

Thanks to anyone and everyone who reviewed, favourited, and followed last chapter! I'd love to get some more feedback about this, so please review! I should warn you, the next chapter won't be up nearly as fast as this one.

Chapter 2 – The Guardians

_My fellow Guardians. It is our job to watch over the children of the world and keep them safe. To bring wonder, hope, and dreams. And so, I've called us all here for one reason and one reason only: the children are in danger. An enemy we have kept at bay for centuries has finally decided to strike back. We alone can stop him._

A tiny turquoise fairy flew above the head of a small child. The child was fast asleep in his bed, snuggling into is pillow. The fairy, called Baby Tooth by her friends, ducked under the pillow and wiggled out the other side with a tooth in her tiny hand, leaving a coin behind. Despite being the youngest fairy in the field, Baby Tooth was very good at what she did. Baby Tooth allowed herself a small grin and then fluttered off in the direction of the Tooth Palace, following her natural sense of direction.

The Tooth Palace was a hub of activity hidden inside a hollowed-out mountain. Though not as fortified against intruders as North's Palace, it was no less concealed. Baby Tooth joined the hundreds of fairies that were flitting outside the castle walls, either returning from similar missions or heading out to gather newly lost teeth.

Baby Tooth effortlessly navigated the winding, open hallways of the Palace, weaving in and out of her sisters. She reached the center of the organized chaos and handed in the tooth, collecting another coin and address as she did so.

In the center of all this activity was Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy herself. Half human and half fairy, Tooth was covered almost everywhere in brightly coloured feathers. Her delicate double wings fluttered as she shouted orders, each thin membrane veined with blue and extending a full three feet from her shoulder blades.

"Moscow, Sector 9—twenty-two incisors, eighteen premolars. Uh-oh, heavy rain advisory!" She paused to check the map, "Des Moines, we've got a cuspid at 23 Maple. Head out!"

"Wait!" Tooth cried suddenly, halting all her fairies in their tracks. Holding a single tooth in the air, she turned around to face her many Mini Fairies, displaying her magnificent smile. Her shimmery wings flapped with excitement, "It's her first tooth. Have you ever seen a more adorable lateral incisor in all your life?" Tooth gasped, "Look how she flossed!"

The Mini Fairies nodded happily, tweeting with excitement. The tweeting turned to concern as they noticed a rainbow of light filling the sky, stretching tendrils toward the castle and further into the sky beyond. Tooth's eyes darkened as a shadow cross her face. With a worried gulp, Tooth gathered her most trusted fairy advisers and took off like a shot.

On the other end of the globe, a sleeping child was dreaming of playing soccer. His dream swirled above his head in a mist of fine golden sand. The stream of dreamsand was just one of many branching out from the Sandman's cloud. From high up in the clouds, Sandy controlled the dreams, sending those magical golden threads to each child as he or she slept soundly. Sandy delighted in sharing their dreams.

Casting his eyes around him, Sandy noticed something new mixing with his tendrils of dreamsand. All around him and above him wove the Northern Lights; Sandy's joy turned to concern. In a flash, Sandy gathered his cloud of sand and fashioned out of it a small biplane. Settling into the cockpit, Sandy set course for due north.

E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny, ran through the subterranean tunnel as fast as his floppy feet could carry him. Easter eggs with little legs hopped out of his way. He was six feet tall and had to be careful not to bump his head while rushing, the tips of his ears brushing the top of the tunnel. Strapped to the grey fur of his back were twin boomerangs, which he wielded with deadly accuracy. Bunny, as he was called, launched himself out of the tunnels through a rabbit hole at the North Pole and climbed up a snowbank.

"Ah, it's freezing," Bunny complained. He trekked through the wet and cold terrain, muttering to himself. He was creature of Spring—he'd never liked the cold, "I can't feel my feet. _ I can't feel my feet._" He hopped quickly, covering distances twice as long as he was tall in one hop, approaching the glacier from below.

Three of the four Guardians met in the Globe Room. North offered fruitcake and eggnog to Bunny and Tooth as they waited for Sandy to arrive. Bunny held an egg in his hand and was painting it with delicate strokes as he paced. As always, Tooth was busy directing her fairies to new teeth.

"This had better be good, North," Bunny growled.

At that moment, Sandy appeared. His dreamsand plane dissipated as he floated down to the floor. Using images in dreamsand, Sandy tried to convey to North just how busy he was.

"I know, I know," said North, "But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious. The Boogeyman was here—at the Pole."

Tooth gave a little gasp and stopped moving for the first time since she had arrived, "Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?"

North nodded with exuberance, "Yes! There was black sand covering the Globe," he spread his arms wide, gesturing to the Globe, "And then a shadow!"

Bunny cocked his head to the side in confusion, "What do you mean black sand? I thought you said you saw Pitch."

"Well, ah, not exactly," North confessed sheepishly.

Bunny was not amused, "'Not exactly'? Can you believe this guy?" He looked at Sandy, who offered him a sympathetic shrug and a dreamsand question mark.

North continued, "Pitch is up to something very bad. I feel it," he looked around at the other Guardians and noted their looks of disbelief, "In my belly," he patted his considerable belly for emphasis.

"Hang on. You mean to say you summoned me here three days before Easter because of _your belly?_" asked Bunny, "Mate, if I did this to you three days before Christmas—"

Bunny was interrupted by Tooth giving more orders to her fairies, "Argentina. Priority alert! A batch of bicuspids in Buenos Aires."

"Please, Bunny. Easter is not Christmas," North added.

"Here we go," Bunny quipped, rolling his eyes. He laughed, hoping in front of North, "North, I don't have time for this. I've still got two million eggs to finish up."

"No matter how much you paint, it is still an egg," North countered.

With North and Bunny arguing and Tooth once again overtaken by a sea of teeth, it was only Sandy who noticed that the moon had come into prominent view over the skylight. The moon's rays shined brightly, blanketing the Globe Room with a cover of moonlight. Sandy attempted to signal the other Guardians with his dreamsand images, but they were too caught up in their own problems to realize what was right in front of them.

"Come on, Pitch went out with the Dark Ages. We made sure of that, remember?" Bunny reminded North, waving at the large man with his paint brush.

"I know it was him. We have a serious situation," North replied.

"Well, I've got a serious situation with some eggs," Bunny snapped.

The bickering pair were interrupted by Tooth flying between them, still focused on the orders she was issuing.

"Do you mind, Tooth? We are trying to argue here."

"Well, _sorry,_" she twittered, "_Some_ of us don't work only one night a year, right, Sandy?" She spared him a slight glance before returning to her work. She missed the arrow of sand appear over his head, gesturing wildly towards the moon.

Sandy didn't know what else to do, so he grabbed one of North's elves and began to shake him. The bell on the elf's suit rang throughout the room. The other Guardians froze in surprise, and Sandy formed an image of a crescent moon above his head. The aforementioned elf landed on his side, dazed and confused.

"Aah! Man in Moon!" exclaimed North, turning towards the skylight, "Sandy, why didn't you say something?"

Sandy glared at North, dreamsand pouring out of his ears like steam.

North spoke to the moon, "It's been a long time, old friend. What is big news?"

A beam of moonlight focused on a spot on the floor in the center of the four Guardians. Then the light shifted, darkening to shadows until it revealed a silhouette. The Guardians continued to stare in disbelief.

"It _is_ Pitch," Bunny said, recognizing the silhouette anywhere.

"Manny, what must we do?" North asked.

In response, the beam of moonlight grew brighter before narrowing to a diameter no larger than one of Bunny's eggs. At the center of the circle, the light illuminated an ornate symbol on the floor. Under the moon's power, the symbol rose out of the ground, revealing a large crystal of amethyst on top of an elaborate wooden pillar.

The Guardians were in awe as the crystal caught the light, refracting it throughout the chamber.

"Uh, guys, you know what this means?" Tooth asked the group with a gasp. She fluttered forward, towards the crystal.

"He's choosing a new Guardian," North said, also moving forward.

Tooth nodded, "I wonder who it's gonna be."

Sandy created images with his dreamsand as Tooth began to speculate who they might be adding to their exclusive group.

"Maybe the Leprechaun?" Tooth guessed.

"Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog," Bunny chanted to himself.

A sudden bright light flashed through the room. Hovering above the crystal, a hologram of a cloaked figure appeared. His face was barely visible below the fabric of his blue hoodie, but he was almost as recognizable as Pitch's silhouette had been. He held a seven-foot-long staff hooked like a shepard's crook in one pale hand. The other hand was buried deep in his pocket. He was young—he couldn't have been more than seventeen years old when he became a spirit. Though he came off as boyish, there was no denying he was on the cusp of adulthood. He stood nearly six feet tall in his bare feet, and his expression, though playful, spoke of deeper emotion.

The Mini Fairies all sighed with delight as the Guardians stared, baffled by Manny's choice.

"Jack Frost," North muttered. He crossed is arms over his chest and appeared for all the world deep in thought.

"Ah, I take it all back!" Bunny whimpered, "The Groundhog's fine!"

"Well, ah, as long as he helps to, ah…protect the children, right?" Tooth stammered, flushing.

But Bunny couldn't—wouldn't—believe it, "Jack Frost? He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts. Right? He's an irresponsible, selfish—"

"Guardian," North interrupted with a sly smile.

Bunny shook his head, "Jack Frost is many things, but he is _not _a Guardian!"


	3. Many Things

Chapter 3 – Many Things

Jack Frost crouched atop a post office box in St. Petersburg, Russia, poised to make trouble. He touched the end of his staff to the street and sent frost spinning across it.

A Russian boy was taking a drink from a water fountain when the water froze midstream. His lips stuck to the icy spray, "Ahh!" he screamed, unable to move.

A mailman came to help, but out of nowhere a patch of ice appeared under his feet. _Boom!_ The man fell right down on his bottom.

The streak of frost continued up a rainspout, frosting over the windows of an apartment building. Inside, a goldfish swam to the surface of its bowl to eat, but a thin layer of ice coated the top of the water, blocking to the food. In the next room, a writer sat next to a stack of papers. A sudden gust of wind blew his manuscript out the window. As the ice moved along the walls of the building, it froze power lines and clotheslines. Everything the icy tendrils touched was immediately frozen.

The culprit climbed an ancient cathedral, eager to see what his frost had done.

He smiled the grin of the inherent troublemaker, "Ah, now _that_ was fun. Hey, wind!" The trees began to sway, and leaves flew into the air. Jack gathered to him his best and only friend, "Take me home!" He was blown upwards, over the trees and away from Russia.

In 300 years, Jack had become confident with his powers. He had absolute trust in the wind, as it had never once dropped him after that first time. He answered the summons of his duties with no difficulty. But he was lonely. Very few people could see him, and those that could never paid him any mind.

Jack didn't remember anything about his life before he had become an immortal, or if he even had existed before he became an immortal. The not-knowing was a constant pressure in the back of his mind. He knew it had been 300 years, but he didn't know how old he was. He didn't know why he could count every one of his ribs, and he'd never experienced love. He was tired, tired of his solitary existence.

But to see him interact with children, even though they couldn't see him, one wouldn't know that. He never dropped his smile around a child, not even when the pain in his heart was nearly unbearable.

"Woooooo-hooooooo!" Jack shouted in joy.

He was not past the point where he could delight in simple, everyday fun.

Jack floated into Burgess on a quiet wind. Springtime was just around the corner, and that would mean he would have to leave the only place he had ever felt at home in favour of the cooler Southern hemisphere. Jack Frost and the spirits of Spring, the twins April Showers and May Flowers, didn't mix very well. He'd gotten on the twin's bad side multiple times, the worst of which being the time where April, the more volatile twin, had wacked him over the head with her bow and then chased him halfway around the globe with a rain cloud. But he hadn't seen hide nor hair of either twin yet that year. There was still time for one more…

"SNOW DAY!" Jack jumped down into the streets of the town's center. Wherever he passed, people wrapped themselves tightly in their jackets. Jack himself had never felt the cold he created. He felt heat, sure, but cold had always just felt comfortable to him.

A young, brown-haired boy named Jamieson Bennett was walking home when Jack's wind ripped his book from his hands. The book landed face up so Jack could read the title—it was called _They're Out There—Mysteries, Mythical Creatures, and the Unexplained Phenomena._

As Jamie scooped it up before it could be ruined by the damp ground, the wind deposited Jack next to him. Kneeling, he said, "Huh, that looks interesting. Good book?"

Jack had forgotten for the moment that Jamie couldn't see or hear him. Jamie's lack of answer brought Jack back down to Earth.

Claude and Caleb, twin boys in Jamie's grade, came rushing by, pushing each other and laughing as they went.

"All right! Yeah!" Claude cheered.

"Wahoo! Snow day!" Caleb hooted before shoving his brother into a snowdrift. Claude came up laughing.

Jack grinned. He gave a slight bow and said, "You're welcome!" This time he spoke just for the sake of speaking.

Jamie ran after the twins, "Hey guys, wait up. Are you guys coming to the egg hunt on Sunday?"

"Yeah, free candy!" answered Caleb.

"I hope we can find the eggs with all this snow!" added Claude.

The three boys soon reached Jamie's house. Jack stood above them, watching them from his perch on the fence. He balanced there effortlessly, as if he were the most graceful of dancers.

"Whoa," Jamie told the twins, "It says here that they found Bigfoot hair samples and DNA in Michigan. That's like, super close."

"Here we go again," Claude said with a moan. He rolled his eyes like he had heard Jamie's words many times before.

Jamie looked at his two-year-old sister, Sophie, playing in their front yard. She was wearing fairy wings and trying to ride on their large greyhound, Abby, "You saw the video too, Claude. He's out there," Jamie slipped through a loose board in the fence, still clutching his book.

Caleb chuckled, "That's what you said about aliens."

"And the Easter Bunny," Claude added.

Jamie grabbed his sled from the porch, "The Easter Bunny _is_ real."

"Oh, the Easter Bunny's real, all right. Real annoying, real grumpy, and _really_ full of himself," Jack remarked, even though he knew the boys couldn't hear him.

Claude giggled, "Come on, you guys believe anything."

Sophie got into the fun, "Easter Bunny!" She giggled, "Hop, hop, hop!" Sophie lost her balance and tumbled off of the lowest porch step, "Ow," she said with a small sob.

"Mom!" Jamie called into the house, "Sophie fell again."

Jamie's Mom came outside to see what was going on, "You okay, Soph?" She picked up her daughter and then dusted off the snow.

Caleb asked Jamie, "Are we sledding or what?"

At that, Jamie's Mom said, "Jamie, hat? We don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose." She pulled his cap down over his ears.

"Who's Jack Frost?" Jamie scoffed.

Jamie's Mom smiled, "No one, honey. It's just an expression."

"Hey!" Jack was offended. He gathered a perfect snowball off the ground. He stared at it and imitated Jamie, saying, _"Who's Jack Frost?"_ He blew on the snowball, turning it a magical shade of blue.

Jack faced Jamie, took aim, and…direct hit!

"Okay, who threw that?" Jamie glance around, laughing. He leaped into a group of kids playing in the snow.

"Well, it wasn't Bigfoot, kiddo," Jack replied with a smile, stepping down off the wind like he was stepping off a staircase.

Jamie looked around for the snowball thrower. He found a couple of kids making a barricade and tossed a snowball at them.

The snowball hit Montgomery 'Monty' Christopher, knocking off his thick glasses. Monty collapsed face-first into the snow, flailing as he tried to regain his footing.

Pippa Overhill went to throw a snowball at Jamie when one of Jack's hit her, "Jamie Bennett! No fair!" She cried. The force of the snowball caused her to sit down in the snow.

Jamie laughed, "You struck first!"

Before Pippa could respond, Jack hit Caleb in the side of the head with a snowball.

"Oh!" Claude giggled at his twin brother.

But Jack was just warming up for the battle, "Free for all!" he shouted, making snow fan into the air for the kids to make into snowballs, "All right, who needs ammo?"

"Ow," Monty got hit again.

"Look at that," Jack said to himself, watching the chaos.

Jamie was using his sled as a shield against the barrage of snow. He backed away slowly and bumped into a snowman, knocking it over as he fell over himself.

Suddenly, a snowball hit Samantha 'Cupcake' MacLean in the back of the head. Cupcake was the toughest girl in their grade. Hands on her hips, Cupcake looked around, searching those present for the one who had hit her. Her eyes slid right over Jack without seeing him.

"Grrrrrr," Cupcake growled.

The snowballs stopped flying as everyone turned to see what Cupcake would do.

Pippa shivered, "Crud, I hit Cupcake."

Monty pointed at Pippa, "She hit Cupcake."

Claude asked, "You hit Cupcake?"

Jamie was terrified. Cupcake was looking at him as if he'd been the one to throw the snowball. He was about to defend himself when another snowball pegged Cupcake. The kids all gasped in horror as the cold, wet snowball left a magical blue mark.

"Oh!" Claude said.

"Did you throw that?"

Monty shook his head, "No."

"Wasn't me," Pippa announced.

The moment was tense, but as Jack Frost's blue magic oozed from the snow, Cupcake's face turned from anger to joy. She began to laugh. Then Cupcake began a game of chase with the other kids. Jamie jumped up to join in the fun while Jack ran along, enjoying the excitement.

As they reached the top of the hill, Jack said, "Ooh, little slippery!" He blasted a sheet of ice behind him. All the kids fell to the ground, except for Jamie, who landed on his sled.

"Whooaaaa!" Jamie shrieked as his sled began to slide down the sheet of ice.

"Whoaaa," Claude said in awe.

"Jamie, watch out!" Pippa warned as Jamie flew by. His sled was picking up speed.

"Stop!" Caleb shouted. But Jamie kept on sliding.

"Jamie, turn, turn!" Monty directed.

"That's the street!" Pippa cried out.

"What are you doing?" Caleb yelled.

"Stop!" Claude shouted, "There's traffic!"

Jamie shot out from the trees and slid past a row of parked cars.

Jack's path of ice continued down the street, sending Jamie straight into the traffic Claude had warned about.

"Whoa!" Jamie cried as he barely missed a moving truck, sending furniture tumbling out of the back and causing a four-car pileup.

Jack glanced at the damage and called to Jamie, "Don't worry, kid. I gotcha," the only thing hurt was the people's wallets.

Jamie, of course, couldn't hear Jack. He became increasingly frightened as Jack shouted, "Hold on! It's gonna be all right."

"Ahh!" Jamie's sled was sliding faster and faster, "No, no, no, no…" He narrowly missed hitting people in the crosswalk and dodged a couple walking their dog.

Jack threw out more ice, sending Jamie onto the sidewalk, "Keep up with me, kid! Take a left!"

A pedestrian told Jamie, "Slow down!"

Jamie was out of control, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Is that Jamie Bennett?" a woman asked her friend as Jamie zoomed by.

The friend replied with a shout to Jamie, "Hey, watch it!"

A guy pointed in awe, "Look at that dude!"

Jamie flew off the sidewalk and back into the street. He nearly knocked down the mail carrier.

Jack looked at Jamie. Jamie's face was full of fear, but there was also excitement in his eyes. The ride was fun, and Jack knew it. He turned the sled to protect Jamie from an oncoming snowplow, and then changed the pathway of the ice trail. Jamie's sled turned onto a newly formed ice ramp.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Jamie shouted as he rode the ram and launched into the air. His sled remained in the air for a few seconds until it landed in a large drift at the foot of the statue of the town's founder, Thaddeus Burgess. Jamie himself tumbled off into a pillow of snow, courtesy of Jack Frost.

The group of kids had followed Jamie's progress. They sprinted to him to make certain he had survived.

"Oh my gosh!" Pippa exclaimed.

Jack grinned from his perch atop the statue, "Yeah!"

"Jamie!" Claude shouted.

"Wow, that looks serious, Jamie." Caleb checked out the landing site.

"Jamie, are you alright?" Pippa asked.

"Is he okay?" Monty wondered.

Jamie leaped up from the sled. He wasn't hurt, not even a scratch. "Whoaaa!" he said, excitedly, "Did you guys see that? It was amazing. I did a jump and slid under a—"A sofa that had flown out of the furniture truck skidded past and came to a stop, pushing Jamie over as it went.

"Whoops!" Jack said with a wince.

Claude cringed, "Ooooh!"

The kids waited to see if Jamie survived a second time. His arm shot up from behind the sofa, clutching a tooth, "Cool! A tooth!" There was a new hole in his smile when Jamie rose from the ground.

"Dude!" Claude said, "That means cash."

"Tooth Fairy cash!"

"I love the Tooth Fairy," Pippa sighed.

"Oh no…" Jack moaned. There was the Tooth Fairy, stealing all of his glory!

"That's totally awesome," Monty said.

"You lucky bug!" Claude said.

"Lucky," Caleb agreed.

"No!" Jack shook his head. The day's adventure was his, _not _the Tooth Fairy's.

"I gotta put this under my pillow." Jamie held his tooth very carefully.

"I wish I lost my tooth," Caleb and Pippa said in unison.

Jack called after the kids, "Ah, wait a minute! Come on. Hold on. Hold _on_! What about all that fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy, that was me!"

Claude said, "I lost two teeth in one day once. Remember that?"

"What are you gonna buy?" Cupcake asked Jamie.

"How much do you think she's going to leave?" Caleb asked.

Jack looked at the kids, and his frustration grew. He barely noticed the storm clouds gathering above his head, brought to him by the wind sensing his mood. The sky rumbled. Snow flurries started to fall.

"Let's go," Pippa told the others, "I'm cold."

Claude looked at Jamie, "What _are_ you gonna spend your money on?"

"My ears are freezing," Caleb complained as the temperature continued to drop.

"I can't feel my toes," added Claude, "It's hot cocoa time."

Jack jumped down from the statue, still trying to remind the kids about the good time they'd had in the snow. It was no use—none of them could see or hear him. The group of kids moved off, heading for home.

Jumping in front of Jamie, Jack tried to block his way, "What's a guy gotta do to get a little attention around here?" Jack muttered.

_Whoosh_. Jamie dashed right through Jack.

Jack doubled over almost completely. In his three hundred years, he had lost count of the amount of times he had been walked through. Each time was more agonizing than the last. A nearly unbearable ache, like a hole torn into his chest. By the time Jack recovered Jamie and his friends were almost out of sight. Jack sat back on his heels, allowing the weather he'd created to surround him. Then, gathering the wind, Jack lifted himself up and soared over the town.


	4. Defensive

Chapter 4 – Defensive

Jamie was in his bedroom, playing with a toy robot. Behind his head, his passions about the realms of belief were spread out all over his room—drawings of UFOs, aliens, Bigfoot, and other mythical creatures were pinned to the wall. Jamie had made a drawing of his sled ride when he had returned home that afternoon, and it was now on the wall, as well.

"I did this jump, and it was amazing, and I slid under a car and it was awesome." Jamie was telling the day's adventures to his mom and Sophie, "Then I was flying down this hill, and I was like, _whoosh, whoosh_ through all these cars, and then the sled hit this…this thing, and I was, like, way up in the air," using his robot for emphasis, Jamie demonstrated the flying maneuvers. Sophie and Abby sat on the floor, entrapped by the story.

"And then _bam_! Then the sofa hit me, and see?" He opened wide and explained how the tooth fell out, "Ah hoo hay ow!"

Sophie jumped up, trying to put her finger into Jamie's mouth.

Jamie's Mom pulled Sophie back, "All right, you," she said to Jamie, "Tooth under your pillow?"

Jamie placed his robot on the nightstand and then reached for his favourite stuffed rabbit.

Laura Bennett smiled at her son. Without a doubt, Jamie took after his father. Her Jim had fed Jamie's interest in the mythological until it bordered on an obsession. It made Laura's heart ache that Jim was not here—no, he was at a business conference for the next week.

"Yeah," Jamie told Laura with a satisfied smile, "I'm ready," Under his pillow were the tooth, a camera, and a flashlight.

She saw the look of anticipation on his face and warned, "Now, don't stay up trying to see her, Jamie, or she won't come." _Yep, exactly like Jim. I remember Jim's mum telling me about the time Jim tried to do exactly what Jamie's trying to do. I wonder if I'll find Jamie asleep upside down on the stairs like Isobel Bennett did Jim. _

"But I can do it this time," Jamie assured his mother, "You want to help me, Soph? We can hide and see the Tooth Fairy!"

Sophie began running around the room, "Hide! Hide hide hide…"

Laura caught Sophie as she raced past, and Abby jumped on Jamie's bed and gave him a bath. She shook her head, "Straight to bed now, mister."

"Mum," Jamie whined.

But Laura was serious about bedtime. She carried Sophie into the hall, closing Jamie's door behind them.

~! #$%^'\[]-=

Watching the entire seen unfold was Jack Frost, hanging outside Jamie's window. As he breathed, the glass in front of his frosted over. The hood of his hoodie was up, nearly obscuring his opalescent hair, but not hiding his small, sad smile. The full moon illuminated his face and his skin glowed with a soft light.

Jack flipped back onto the roof of the Bennett house. There had always been some building in that location, for as long as he could remember. He remembered a young, brown haired girl crying on the steps. Jack had been really young then—no more than a few years old. He remembered the house being rebuilt after it burned down—twice. It was the nearest house to his lake in the entire town. There had always been Bennetts in Burgess, as far as Jack could remember.

Jack turned his attention skyward and beseeched the moon, "If there's something I'm doing wrong, I'd really like to know what it is," he said sadly, "'Cause I've tried _everything_, and no one ever sees me." The rays of moonlight kept up their steady pulsing, but the Man who controlled them remained silent. "I mean," Jack continued, "You put me here. The least you can do is tell me," his breath hitched as he forced down a sob, "Tell me _why._"

The moon continued to shine, stable and unchanging.

Jack shook his head and grumbled, "Why do I bother?" How was it possible that his heart could break just a little more, when it was already shattered?

He moved away from the Bennett house, vaulting onto a telephone wire. He slid along the wire with a small hop, a stream of dreamsand zipping behind his head. Another cropped up in front of him. Strands of dreamsand surrounded Jack on their way into the bedroom windows of sleeping children.

Jack smiled, "Right on time, Sandman."

Jack ran along the telephone wire until he caught up to a strand and then began to follow it. Behind him, another stream of dreamsand morphed into a dolphin and entered a nearby window. Yet another swooped downward into Cupcake's room.

Cupcake was fast asleep. She held a stuffed unicorn while her dreams swirled above her head, a unicorn dashing with a little girl on her back. When the room began to darken, sleeping Cupcake didn't stir. A shadowy figure rose from under her bed, like a translucent black veil. True to his power, Pitch, the Boogeyman, took shape.

He laughed a sinister chuckle as he studied Cupcake's happy little dream, "Ohhhh," he mocked, "I thought I heard the clippity-clop of a unicorn. What an adorable dream!" His thin lips curled into a small smile, "And look at her. Precious child. So sweet, so full of hope and wonder," Pitch raised his eyebrows, "Why, there's only one thing missing….A touch of fear."

Pitch touched a bony finger to the unicorn in Cupcake's dream. The creature and the swirls of dreamsand turned black and skeletal. Cupcake flinched in her sleep, "Ha, ha, ha! That never gets old," Pitch snickered. He raised his finger again and spun the dreamsand around Cupcake's bed. It was no longer gold and soft, but black as shadow and as coarse as sandpaper.

"Feel your fear," Pitch told Cupcake, "Come on, come on," He watched her toss and turn, delighting in every whimper, "That's right."

Pitch turned and caught the gaunt horse galloping around the room, "Yessss," Pitch hissed, "What a pretty little Nightmare. Now," he turned to the horse, "I want you to tell the others, the wait is over," Pitch tossed the Nightmare out the window. It landed on its midnight black hooves and joined the herd of Nightmares already gathering on the streets. As one, the herd moved off, away from town.

Pitch dropped out onto the street underneath Cupcake's window and watched them go. He walked in a crooked line, careful to avoid any beams of moonlight. From the shadows, Pitch glanced up at the moon and smiled, showing his pointed teeth, "Don't look at me like that, old friend. My Nightmares are finally ready. Are your Guardians?"

~! #$%^][=-

It wasn't snowing yet, but if Jack had his way, it soon would be. Even in the frigid late April air, Jack was almost uncomfortably warm. Spring was too close.

The town of Burgess was no longer in his element, but something—a whispering, in the back of his mind—was coercing him to stay, for just a little longer.

"Whoa!" From his perch high above the town, watching dreamsand slip silently in and out of homes, Jack yelped as a shadowy figure raced past him. Leaping down from the telephone wire, at first he heard only the voices of the townspeople preparing for the night.

A man asked his wife, "Did you leave the windows open again?" It was Marcus Brandon and his wife, Fiona. Jack had long ago learned the names of everyone in the town. Marcus and Fiona had grown-up twins, Olivia and Oliver, and a son about Jamie's age, named Owen.

Jack didn't hear Fiona's reply. He stilled for a moment longer, and heard Megan Lightwood call out to her daughter, Marynna, "The garage door is wide open."

Jack shot past the houses, still searching for the shadowy figure. Once again, something sprinted by him. He couldn't see what it was, so Jack jumped onto the roof of a truck for a better view.

_Whoosh_. There it went again. A trash can tumbled over. Jack hopped down from the truck and then scooted backwards into a dark alley, holding his staff at the ready.

"Hello, mate."

Jack spun to face the owner of the voice. A massive silhouette lounged against a brick wall, carelessly flipping a boomerang over and over in its hands, "Been a long time. Blizzard of '68, I believe? Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

He squinted as E. Aster Bunnymund stepped fully into the light.

Jack chuckled uneasily, "Bunny? You're not still mad about that," he paused, "Are you?"

"Yes," Bunny answered simply, "But this is about something else." He glanced around the alley, calling, "Fellas."

Before Jack could react, a huge, hairy hand reached forward and then lifted him off the ground.

"Hey!" Jack protested.

"Durbha wahla," one yeti said as a second yeti took hold of Jack's arms.

"Put me down!" Jack demanded.

The yetis shoved Jack into a sack. The first yeti took out a snow globe and then smashed it on the ground, saying, "Durtal bardla burdlew," A magic portal opened in front of them.

The yetis indicated that Bunny should go first, "Dward urghwetee."

"Me?" Bunny gestured to himself, "Not on your nelly. See you back at the Pole."

Bunny tapped one floppy foot against the ground twice in quick succession. A rabbit hole appeared, and Bunny jumped into it.

"Bwardla arghl," a yeti said before tossing Jack into the snow globe portal.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Jack's voice echoed as he fell. The two yetis leaped in after him.

~! #$%^][=-

Tooth was running her business from North's fortress, "Tangiers! 421 rue de Barat! _Allez!_" She sent a Mini Fairy to get a tooth from that address.

There was a disturbance in the air, but Tooth didn't even look up. Not even when the sack flew out of a portal and thumped onto the floor.

"He's here," North announced.

Crawling out of the bag, Jack found North and Sandy staring at him. Tooth was nearby, surrounded by a dozen hovering Mini Fairies who came and went as she barked orders at them.

"Walla Walla, Washington, we've got a trampoline mishap at 1340 Ginger Lane," she told a fairy, "Canine, lateral, _and_ central incisor. Ouch!" The little fairy hurried away.

North cleared his throat, "There he is," He pointed and announced, 'Jack frost." Raising his arms, he welcomed Jack. Sandy made a snowflake out of dreamsand appear above his head.

Jack took a deep breath. He hated small spaces. Twisting his features into a face of contempt, he said, "Wow. You've _got_ to be kidding me." The two yetis that had followed him through the portal reached forward and propped him up, "Hey, hey. Whoa, put me down." The physical contact was unexpected but not entirely unwelcome. He had not been touched in a very long time.

"I trust the yetis treated you well," North said with a grin.

"Oh, yeah," Jack's sarcastic nature took over, born of years spent alone, "I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal."

"Oh good," North nodded, "That was my idea."

Bunny shifted on his feet, drawing North's attention, "You know Bunny, obviously."

"Obviously," Jack replied, his voice dripping sarcasm.

Bunny crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as the Mini Fairies swarmed Jack like a cloud of rainbow bees.

"And the Tooth Fairy," North indicated the flighty fairy. Her Mini Fairies were exactly that, her in miniature.

Before Jack could answer, Tooth glided toward him, "Hello, Jack," she greeted, "I've heard a lot about you. And your teeth!"

Jack put a hand to his mouth, "My…my what?"

Tooth leaned in, too close to Jack for comfort. It took every ounce of his self-control not to backpedal away from her.

"Open up," she said, "Are they really as white as they say? Yes!" Tooth gasped, "Oh, they really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow." Tooth nearly swooned.

Several of the Mini Fairies began to flutter like butterflies around Jack's face, trying to get a look in his mouth.

"Girls, pull yourselves together. Let's not disgrace the uniform," Tooth gently reminded her fairies, the subtle order clear in her tone.

North went on with the introductions, "And Sandman," The dream maker had fallen asleep. North nudged him and he bobbed a bit in the air, "Sandy! Sandy, wake up!"

Sandy bolted upright and then smiled at Jack.

"Anyone want to tell me why I'm here?" Jack drawled, impatience seeping into his voice.

Raising one finger with an 'I know!' smile, Sandy made a flurry of dreamsand images appear over his head.

"That's not really helping," Jack knelt to his level, "but thanks, little man," To the others he said, "I musta done something _really_ bad to get you four together," Jack slung his staff over his shoulder. As he did so, he froze an elf walking by with a tray of cookies. Turning back towards North, he said, "Am I on the naughty list?"

North laughed so hard his belly shook, "On the naughty list?" he narrowed his eyes, shaking a sausage-like finger at Jack, "You hold record! But no matter. We overlook. Now we are wiping clean the slate," he said, wiping a giant paw of a hand over his 'Naughty' tattoo.

"How come?" Jack asked, unsure of why he, after 300 years of no one paying any attention to him, was getting a second chance. There had to be some sort of strings attached—Jack was not ignorant to the workings of the world.

"Good question," Bunny growled.

"How come?" North repeated, "I tell you how come," He faced Jack full on, raising his arms, "Because now you are Guardian."

While Jack stood there entirely confused, the yetis lit ceremonial torches. Elves leaped down from columns, unfurling banners as they descended. A few of the Mini Fairies brought Jack a necklace of flowers, which he backed away from.

"What are you doing?" Jack pushed the fairies back, "Get off of me."

Horns blared throughout the room, and a few torches passed too close for comfort.

"This is best part!" North exclaimed.

An elf marching band appeared around North's boots, while the yetis pushed Jack to his designated spot on the floor. Yet more elves brought in a pair of ceremonial boots.

A yeti handed North a thick book. He blew off the dust and then began searching for the correct page.

The Spirit of Winter had had enough. He slammed his staff on the floor, releasing a carefully controlled cloud of frost and wind. It encircled him, dispersing in a fifteen-foot radius around him. There was a perceptible drop in temperature, and every single torch blew out. Marching elves and dancing yetis alike skidded away from Jack on a smaller circle of black ice. Jack felt himself be lifted up by the wind, but he landed before anyone noticed. The wind was more than ready to whisk him out of there, but something told him that he should stay.

"What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?" Jack asked.

North looked at Jack and chuckled, "Of course you do," He cued the elf band to start playing again, "Music!"

"No music!" Jack shouted. The band gave up, and with a huff one of the elves tossed his trumpet onto the ground and stomped out of the room. As he went, he shoved the elf beside him.

"Look," Jack said to the Guardians, "this is all very flattering, but, ah, you don't want me. You're all 'hard work' and 'deadlines', and I'm 'snowballs' and 'fun times'. I'm not a Guardian."

"That's exactly what I said!" Bunny exclaimed in agreement.

Tooth flew toward Jack, "Jack, I don't think you understand what it is we do." She told Jack to look at the massive Globe behind him, "Each of those lights is a child," Tooth began.

North picked up the story, "A child who believes. And good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them." Then he added, "Tooth, fingers out of mouth."

Tooth was once again examining Jack's teeth. She couldn't herself, "Oh, sorry. They're beautiful." She blushed.

North went on, saying, "Okay, no more wishy-washy! Pitch is out there doing who knows what!"

"You mean the Boogeyman?" Jack snickered.

"Yes!" North said, "When Pitch threatens _us_, he threatens _them_ as well." North gestured at the Globe.

"All the more reason to pick someone more qualified," Jack argued.

"Pick?" North rumbled, "You think we pick? No, you were chosen, like we were all chosen. By Man in Moon."

That caught Jack's attention. "What?" he asked.

"Last night, Jack," Tooth said, "He chose you."

Bunny snorted, "Maybe."

Jack squinted at North, "The Man in the Moon? He talks to you?"

"You see, you cannot say no," North said, completely missing Jack's tone. In fact, none of the Guardians caught the note of longing, of betrayal, in his voice, "It is destiny."

Feeling like his head might burst from too much information, Jack asked, "But why wouldn't he tell me that himself?" He sighed, running a pale hand through eternally messy hair, "After three hundred years, this is his answer? To spend eternity like you guys, cooped up in some hideout, thinking of new ways to bribe kids? No, that's _not_ for me!" Jack cried, "No offense."

"H-how is that not offensive?" Bunny sneered, "You know what I think? I think we just dodged a bullet. I mean, what's this clown know about bringing joy to children, anyway?"

Jack felt like he had to defend himself, "Uh, you ever heard of a snow day? I know it's no hard-boiled egg, but kids _like_ what I do."

"But none of them believe in you." Bunny leaned toward Jack and then said softly, "Do they? You see, you're invisible, mate. It's like you don't even exist."

"Bunny! Enough!" Tooth flitted between Bunny and Jack.

"No, the kangaroo's right," Jack said, nodding.

Bunny glared at him, "The…the what? What'd you call me? I am not a kangaroo, mate."

"Oh," Jack scoffed, "And this whole time I thought you were. If you're not a kangaroo, what are you?"

"I'm a bunny!" Bunny said indignantly, "The Easter Bunny. People believe in me."

Jack glared at Bunny, grappling with the walls of ice he had been building for so long, trying not to let his defenses down, to let Bunny know just how much the comment had hurt him.

North stepped forward, "Jack," he said, interrupting the argument and startling Jack out of his reverie, "Walk with me."


	5. And Little By Little, So Do They

Chapter 5 – And Little by Little, so do they

North led Jack into an elevator in the shape of a bauble Christmas tree ornament. The windows afforded a brilliant view of North's Factory as they descended. Somehow, Jack managed to forget that any enclosed space, even one with open windows, made him claustrophobic.

Jack took in the yetis, elves, and toys. He wished he had about ten more eyes. Never before had he found anything as beautiful as this—apart from his frost. Tearing his eyes away from the sight, he said, "It's nothing personal, North. What you all do…It's just…It's not my thing."

North let out a short laugh, "Man in Moon says it is your thing. We will see."

North took one step for every three of Jack's. He crossed the factory in bounds as Jack struggled to keep up. Everything he saw drew his attention, so much so that he began to lag behind.

"Slow down, wouldja?" Jack said, panting, "I've been trying to bust in here for years, I want a good look."

North refused to slow, "What do you mean, 'bust in'?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry," Jack smirked, "I never got past the yetis."

A yeti nearby pounded his fist into his palm and growled a warning.

Jack grinned all the wider, "Oh, hey, Phil."

As much as North wanted to question the Spirit of Winter more on the subject, the treat that Pitch Black posed hung over their heads, "Keep up, Jack! Keep up!"

Jack tried to keep pace, but there was so much to look at. Yetis were building toys and moving packages while elves were test-piloting flying machines. Everywhere his eyes moved to, there was a new explosion of colour or something else wonderful—Jack had never seen anything like it in all his 300-some years. Case in point, he had never been able to 'bust in' to the Workshop before.

"Whoa!" Jack dodged a quacking duck toy, "I always thought the elves made the toys," he mused, almost to himself.

"We just let them believe that," North grinned sheepishly. He peeked over Jack's shoulder at a group of elves alternately eating tinsel and lighting themselves up like Christmas trees, "Very nice! Keep up good work!"

As they went deeper into the factory, yetis and elves brought North toys for inspection. One yeti put the finishing brushstrokes on a pyramid of blue robots. As North passed, he bellowed, "I don't like it. Paint it red," then in an even louder, booming voice, he announced, "Step it up, everybody!"

As the factory roared with increased energy, North let Jack into what was undeniably North's Workshop.

North's shelves were filled with sketches, parts, and toys. There were blocks of ice on his workbench from which he carved toy prototypes. It was colder in the room than in the rest of the factory, which instantly made Jack relax—but only to a very small degree.

When North rolled up his sleeves, Jack could see the Naughty and Nice tattoos. North took a plate from an elf and offered Jack a slice of fruitcake.

"Ah, no, thanks," Jack refused.

North threw the plate across the room. It slammed into the wall with a crash. Jack smothered a laugh as no less than five elves pounced on it. Who needed a broom when you had elven vacuum cleaners?

North stared at Jack with hooded eyes. Unsure of what the Guardian was going to do, Jack narrowed his eyes back.

North employed a tactic that no one had ever used on Jack before—he startled the Winter Spirit into dropping any walls he had erected around himself.

"Now we get down to tacks of brass," North said with a growl, advancing on Jack.

"'Tacks of brass'?" Jack repeated softly to himself. He was not old enough, nor from the right part of the globe, to understand the reference.

North cracked his knuckles, and Jack stopped talking. A gust of wind closed the office door, and the door locked itself. North moved closer toward Jack. With each step forward, Jack stepped backward until he was pressed against the locked door. With valiant effort, Jack fought to keep his breathing steady.

"Who are you, Jack frost?" North asked, "What is your center?" He poked Jack in the chest.

Jack looked down at North's thick finger and asked, "My center?"

"If Man in Moon chose _you_ to be a Guardian, you must have something very special inside," North said, "Hmmm." He picked up a set of Russian nesting dolls, carved into his likeness.

"Here," he told Jack, "This is how you see me, no? Very big, intimidating. But if you get to know me a little…" He handed the doll to Jack, "Well, go on."

With a curious expression, Jack set aside his staff and then opened the first doll. Inside was another North doll. This one was a cheery Santa Claus with red cheeks.

"You are downright jolly," Jack commented, shaking off some of his earlier surprise now that he realized that North was not, in fact, going to hurt him.

"Ah," North said, "But not _just_ jolly…" He encouraged Jack to continue to open the dolls. Each one got smaller and smaller as Jack removed them. They were all versions of North, but slightly different.

"I am also mysterious," North said, pointing to one doll, "And fearless," He pointed to another, "And caring," One to go, "And at my center…"

The smallest doll was no bigger than a jellybean.

"There's a tiny wooden baby," Jack muttered.

"Look closer. What do you see?" North asked.

"You have big eyes?" Jack guessed.

"Yes!" North beamed, "Big eyes. Very big! Because they are full of wonder. That is my center. It is what I was born with. Eyes that have always seen the wonder in _everything_!"

With a wave of his arms, the toys on North's shelves burst to life. Jack-in-the-boxes popped. Train sped around the room. Soldiers began to march. Toy planes zoomed overhead. An elf was lifted and carried by a balloon.

"Eyes that see lights in the trees and magic in the air," A toy plane stalled in front of North before taking flight again, "This wonder is what I put into the world and what I protect in children. It is what makes me a Guardian. It is my center." North looked to Jack, "What is yours?"

"I don't know," Jack stared down at the tiny wooden Santa in his palm. North reached out and closed Jack's palm around the doll, silently telling him to keep it.

The moment of pensive silence was interrupted by the arrival of Bunny, with Sandy bobbing along behind him. The Guardian of dreams looked, for lack of a better word, agitated.

"We have a problem, mate," Bunny announced in a panicked rush, "Trouble at the Tooth Palace."

North immediately led Bunny, Sandy, and Jack to the sleigh hanger. Jack caught sight of a rainbow blur out one of the windows and correctly deduced it to be Tooth, already going ahead to her palace. All around him, yetis rushed in to prepare the sleigh for launch.

"Boys, shipshape," North told the yetis, "As soon as impossible."

Jack stepped out of the way as a yeti nearly bowled him over, "North, North!" He called for the enormous Russian's attention, "I told you, I'm not going with you guys. There's no way I'm climbing into some rickety old—"The sound of pounding hooves and snorting reindeer cut him off.

The sleigh was incredible. There were literally no other words for it. If Jack thought the factory had been amazing, it had nothing on the totally tricked-out, hot rod of a sleigh, complete with all kinds of gadgets.

"Whoa," was all Jack could manage to say.

North called the massive reindeer to a halt.

"Okay," Jack said. He was dying to get inside and check out the sleigh, "One ride. But that's it." Jack jumped in.

"Everyone loves the sleigh," North gave a smile and a nod to Sandy, who then climbed into his own spot in the back. Taking the reins, North wrapped them around his powerful arms. He then turned to Bunny, who was still standing outside the sleigh.

"Bunny, what are you waiting for?" North asked.

"I think my tunnels might be faster, mate," Bunny said uneasily, "And, um, safer."

North reached out and hauled Bunny aboard, "Ah, get in. Buckle up."

Bunny looked frantically around the bench, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are the bloody seatbelts?"

North guffawed, "That was just expression," He called to the yetis, "Are we ready?"

One yeti shook his head, but North ignored him and cracked the reins, "Good!" he shouted, "Let's go! Clear!"

Elves and yetis scattered as the sleigh shot off down a long sledding track.

"Out of the way!" North bellowed to a few elves as they passed, "Hyah!" He shook the reins, and the reindeer picked up their pace.

The sleigh went straight up for a few minutes, then zoomed straight down. Sandy grinned and Jack shouted in delight. North pulled a lever, sending the sleigh into a corkscrew, "I hope you like the loopty-loops!"

Bunny turned green, "I hope you like carrots," he said, leaving the threat open to obvious interpretation.

"Here we go!" North said. The sleigh reached the bottom of the track and rocketed off the ramp at the end, up and out into the bright blue sky.

"Wooo-hooooo!" Jack cried.

_"Klassno!"_ North told the reindeer.

Jack leaped to the rear of the sled to see the North Pole disappear as they sped through the sky, "Hey, Bunny," With grace unheard of in one of his body type, Jack stood precariously on the back edge of the sleigh, "Check out the view," Suddenly, Jack flipped off the side, "EEEYAAAAGGGGHHH!"

Bunny gasped. In a small voice, he called to North, but the younger Guardian was too involved in keeping control over his team to hear him. Thinking Jack had fallen, Bunny gingerly peaked over the side, only to find Jack lounging on the sleigh's skid.

"Aww. You _do_ care," Jack grinned at the visibly terrified Pooka.

Bunny scowled at Jack while Jack climbed back into his seat.

North rattled the reins, "Hold on, everyone. I know a shortcut!"

Bunny groaned, "I knew we should have taken the tunnels."

North held up a snow globe, "I say, Tooth Palace," he told the globe. An image of Tooth's castle filled the globe, surrounded by a swirl of fake snow. North tossed the snow globe in front of the sleigh, and a giant portal opened in the sky.

"Hyah!" North shouted. The sleigh was sucked through the vortex.

~! #$%^][=-`

The sleigh emerged outside the Tooth Palace. Streaks of black filled the sky around the beautiful, delicate castle, turning early morning into eerie twilight.

"What?!" North squinted above the reindeer, "What are they?"

On closer look, Jack could see that the streaks were skeletal, warped horses made of black sand. Nightmares. Mini Fairies shot past the sleigh, their tiny voices united in one scream of horror.

Sandy and Bunny ducked as Nightmares swooped by the sled.

"Whoa!" Bunny shouted.

"They're taking the Tooth Fairies!" Jack pointed to a stream of Nightmares chasing a pack of fairies and gulping them down into the blackness. A lone fairy was flying nearby with a big ugly Nightmare at her heels. Jack launched himself off the sleigh and snagged her out of the air before the Nightmare could swallow her.

"Hey, little Baby Tooth," Jack said, "You okay?" For, ironically enough, he had saved the fairy nicknamed Baby Tooth. Her full name was Iestil, meaning wish, but not many of her sisters could pronounce it.

Baby Tooth nodded as North drove the sleigh through the Tooth Palace. There were pillars as far as the eye could see. Each pillar contained millions of boxes where baby teeth were stored.

Inside the chamber, North tossed the reins to Jack, "Here," he said, "Take over."

"Huh?" Bunny asked.

"Hyah!" Jack said, gladly taking control.

North unsheathed his swords and slashed a Nightmare in half, "Yah!" he shouted as the Nightmare split open and hundreds of tooth boxes spilled down into the sleigh. The Nightmare disintegrated, and the remaining sand crashed down on the improvised umbrella Sandy had made out of dreamsand.

"They're stealing the teeth!" Bunny cried.

Sandy looked at where the Nightmare disappeared. Within seconds, a new Nightmare had appeared, formed out of the previous' black sand.

The Guardians looked up just as Jack was about to plow the sleigh into one of the pillars.

"Jack! Look out!" North shouted.

Jack hauled back on the reins. The sleigh sideswiped the pillar and then landed hard on a platform.

Tooth flitted to and fro directly above their heads, never staying still long enough to be seen clearly.

"Tooth!" North called out, "Are you all right?"

"They took my fairies!" the Fairy Queen cried, "And the teeth! All of them! Everything is gone! _Everything!_" Defeated, her wings began to droop and she settled down on her knees.

The Guardians scrambled up to the platform she was on, gathering around her. Baby Tooth popped out of Jack's hoodie and then flew to Tooth.

"Iestil! Oh, thank goodness! One of you is all right!" Tooth raised Baby Tooth to her damp eyes.

Pitch's voice boomed through the cavernous room, "I have to say, this is very, very exciting," the man himself stood, half sheathed in shadow, above them with a smug smile, "The big four. All in one place. I'm a little starstruck," His chuckle echoed, "Did you like my show on the Globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?"

"Pitch!" Tooth demanded, "You have got thirty seconds to return my fairies!"

"Or what?" Pitch's voice boomed as he darted back into the shadows. Tooth followed the echo and found him near one of her tooth box columns, "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" Pitch mocked before disappearing again.

"Why are you doing this?" North thundered.

With the speed and effortlessness of a shadow, Pitch crossed the enormous, open amphitheater. He slowly paced to the center of the chamber, "Maybe I want what you have," he said, "To be believed in. Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds."

"Maybe that's where you belong," Bunny suggested, his voice rising to a shout.

"Ah, go suck an egg, rabbit," Pitch replied.

Bunny looked over the side of the platform where he was standing to see Pitch there, hanging upside down. Pitch winked at Bunny, then moved away.

"Hang on, is that Jack Frost?" Pitch asked, laughing, "Since when are you all so chummy?"

Jack scowled and narrowed his eyes, "We're not."

"Oh, good," Pitch said, "A neutral party. Well, then, I'm going to ignore you. But you must be used to that by now."

Bunny yelled, "Pitch! You shadow-sneaking ratbag! Come 'ere!" He leaped after Pitch, but once more the man of shadows melted away and reappeared elsewhere. Tooth spotted him first. She snagged one of Bunny's boomerangs and flew at Pitch in a rage, something akin to a war cry on her lips.

Before Tooth could reach him, Pitch sent a huge Nightmare towards her. Tooth shrank back, lest she be consumed. Iestil took cover in a fold of Jack's hoodie.

"Whoa!" Pitch said to the Nightmare, "Easy girl. Easy." He twirled his fingers through its mane. Turning to Sandy, he offered something to the Guardian of Dreams, "Look familiar, Sandman?" Pitch asked, "Took me a while to perfect this little trick. Turning dreams into Nightmares." Pitch chuckled, "Don't be nervous, it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know."

"What fear?" Bunny scoffed, "Of _you_? No one's been afraid of you sine the Dark Ages."

Pitch's eyes flashed for just a moment, and Jack could see that Pitch lived to scare others. But then his expression softened—well, as much as it could over his pointed teeth—to one of reminiscing, "The Dark Ages," he said with a small sigh, "Everyone frightened, miserable. Such happy times for me. Oh, the power I yielded.

"But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your Wonder and your Light, lifting their hearts and giving them hope! Meanwhile, everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream. 'oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. There's no such thing as the Boogeyman.' Well, that's all about," he paused for effect, "to change."

A cracking sound echoed throughout the room. All the Guardians turned to watch the beautiful columns around them crumble.

"Oh, look." Pitch clapped his hands, "It's already happening."

"What is?" Jack asked.

"Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came," Pitch said, "Such a little thing, but to a child…"

"What's going on?" Jack cringed as more columns fell and the palace broke apart.

"They don't believe in me anymore," Tooth explained sadly.

"Didn't they tell you, Jack?" Pitch asked, "It's great being a Guardian, but there's catch. If enough kids stop believing, all their palaces and powers go away. And little by little, so do they."

Jack's jaw dropped as he processed that point.

Pitch nodded, "No Christmas or Easter of little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear and darkness and me! It's your turn not to be believed in!"

Bunny whipped his boomerangs at Pitch. But Pitch dodged, ghosting through the palace on the back of Onyx, his first and favourite Nightmare.

The Guardians followed him, with Jack bringing up the rear.

Bunny brought a whole new meaning to the term 'egging' when he tossed bomb eggs at Pitch in an attempt to slow him, but they exploded harmlessly in empty space.

"He's gone," North said, stating what those present already knew.


	6. The Collection

Chapter 6 – The Collection

Tooth knelt on the shore of the lake below her palace, clutching an empty tooth box like a lifeline. Baby Tooth rested on a broken box nearby. Too young to have ever experienced a Belief Blackout before, her tiny shoulders hunched in a mirror of her Queen's position.

Jack crossed to them and crouched by Tooth. The fairy did not even acknowledge he was there.

In the background, Bunny could be heard saying, "Okay, all right, I admit it. You were right about Pitch."

"This is one time I wish I was wrong," North replied sadly, "But he will pay."

"I'm sorry about the fairies," Jack told Tooth.

Tooth sighed, "You should have seen them. They put up such a fight."

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" Jack was confused as to the significance. He knew the Tooth Fairy collected teeth, but he didn't know why. Jack remembered the first time he had seen a Mini Fairy. He had wanted to play with the rainbow ball of feathers, but she had been too busy collecting teeth to spare him more than half a glance.

"It's not the teeth he wanted," Tooth explained, "It's the memories inside them."

Jack stared at her, "What do you mean?"

Tooth led Jack across the Palace Lagoon. Her feet skimmed just inches above the water he froze with each step.

"That's why we collect the teeth, Jack. They hold the most important memories of childhood," Tooth gestured to a wall mural. The mural showed Tooth herself collecting teeth, with smiling children below her. She was surrounded by dozens of Mini Fairies, "My fairies and I watch over them, and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's here," she said, "Yours too."

It took Jack a moment to respond, "My memories?"

"From when you were young," Tooth answered, "Before you became Jack Frost."

Jack shook his head, "But I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost."

"Of course you were. We were all someone before we were chosen," Tooth said.

"What?" Jack didn't fully understand.

North entered the conversation, "You should have seen Bunny," He chuckled.

"Hey, I told you never to mention that!" Bunny hissed.

Jack was struggling with this new information. It didn't fit in with the way he viewed his life—he had always been alone. Why should before have been any different? How was he supposed to know there even was a before? "That night at the pond…I just…I assumed. Are you saying…Are you saying I had a life before that? With a home? And a family?"

"You really don't remember?" Tooth asked.

Jack's face was blank, "All these years, and the answers were right here." He looked around the crumbling palace, "If I find my memories, then I'll know why I'm here."

The wind lifted Jack off the lagoon, and in a beautiful display of acrobatics, deposited him on the ledge of a cliff above the Guardians. He landed in a crouch on his dexterous toes, ready to follow Tooth to _his_ storage drawer, "You have to show me."

"I can't, Jack," Tooth said sadly, "Pitch has them."

"Then we have to get them back!" Jack exclaimed.

Before any of them had a chance to respond, Tooth gave a small, choked gasp. Three of her brightly coloured feathers dropped from her plumage and to the ground. She immediately looked to the ancient mural, which had begun to disintegrate before her very eyes.

"Oh no. The children! We're losing them. We're too late."

"No! No! No such thing as too late," North said, "Wait. Idea! Ha!" he balanced his twin swords on his massive shoulders, wiggling his sausage-like fingers as if he were playing a piano. All of a sudden, his right hand shot out, and the sword in it nearly relieved Bunny of his head, "We will collect the teeth."

"What?" Tooth gasped.

"We get the teeth! Children keep believing in you!" North declared.

"We're talking seven continents," Tooth said, "Millions of kids."

From above them, Jack cocked his head. Seven continents? There were no kids in Antarctica, as far as he knew.

"Give me break!" North told her, "You know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny put in.

North turned and looked up at Jack, "And, Jack, if you help us, we will get your memories."

Jack looked at Tooth, who agreed to the deal. Sandy gave Jack a thumbs-up. Bunny just groaned. Jack turned back to North and smiled his most determined smile.

"I'm in."

~! #$%^][=-`*

In Shanghai, China, North shot out of a chimney and raced across the rooftops, "Quickly! Quickly!" he said as Bunny popped up a roof away.

"Here we go, here we go," Bunny chanted, a pep talk under his breath.

Jack zipped past Bunny, "Hop to it, rabbit. I'm five teeth ahead!"

"Yeah, right," Bunny replied, "Look, I'd tell you to stay out of my way, but, really, what's the point? Because you won't be able to keep up, anyway!"

"Is that a challenge, cottontail?" Jack shot back.

"Oh, you don't want to race a rabbit, mate," Bunny said.

"A race?" North cried, "Is it a race? This is going to be," he popped out of another chimney, "EPIC!"

Tooth darted around, with Baby Tooth struggling to keep up, "Four bicuspids over there!" She pointed left, "An incisor two blocks east! Is that a molar? THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" Tooth was overwhelmed by the task in this city alone. She flitted off a rooftop and straight into a billboard advertising toothpaste. "Ow," she said, moaning and rubbing her head.

Jack leaped to the top of the billboard to check on her, "You okay?"

"Fine," Tooth said, "Sorry. It's been a really long time since I've been out in the field." She rose to Jack's level.

"How long is a long time?" Jack asked.

"Four hundred and forty years, give or take," She replied with a sheepish grin.

Before Jack could respond, Tooth was off again after the tiny glow under the pillow of a little girl in a nearby room.

~! #$%^][=-`

Inside a dimly lit bedroom, Jack was about to snag a tooth when Bunny popped out of a hole in the floor. Bunny grabbed the tooth and scampered.

~! #$%^][=-`

In the next city, North discovered two teeth under the pillows of two twin blonde girls. He nabbed both, "Yipa!" he said triumphantly as he hurried off.

~! #$%^][=-`

At another home, Bunny got several teeth from a sleeping child, "Jackpot!" He glanced around the room. There were hockey posters on the walls, and the shelves were loaded with trophies, "Look like you're a bit of a brumby, eh mate?" Bunny remarked.

~! #$%^][=-`

North stood by a boy's bed, "It's a piece of pie!" he said softly. But as he reached forward, Bunny came up through a rabbit hole in the floor. The two Guardians, both stuck in the hole, competed for the tooth. Silently, Sandy slipped between them and took the prize for himself.

"That's my tooth!" North whisper-yelled at the Sandman's back, "Sandy! Sandy!"

~! #$%^][=-`

Bunny continued on his mission to sabotage Jack. At the next house, Bunny opened a rabbit hole that Jack then proceeded to fall through. Bunny took the tooth and then disappeared down another rabbit hole.

~! #$%^][=-`

Tooth reached under a child's pillow and pulled out a tooth. The tooth was perfect, but there was a mouse attached to the root. Baby Tooth immediately tackled the mouse, shaking him free.

"Iestil, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tooth pulled Baby Tooth back, "Take it easy there, champ. He's one of us. Part of the European division," Tooth turned to the mouse and then asked if he was okay in French, "_Ca__va__?"_

~! #$%^][=-`

In yet another city Bunny was about to grab his next tooth. When he reached under the child's pillow, he found an arrow pointing toward the window. Bunny's eyes followed the note, and he found North, grinning like a maniac and holding the child's tooth.

"Huh?" Bunny said in surprise as North dashed toward another house.

Bunny was certain the next tooth was his, but when he reached the roof, he heard the cracking sound of splintering ice and frost, "Crikey!" Tumbling down the slick, tilted roof, Bunny saw the frost child grinning above him as he easily reached out and snagged the tooth from Bunny.

"Yes!" Jack cheered, but in a swirl of streaming dreamsand, Sandy snagged the tooth for himself.

~! #$%^][=-`

North dropped down a chimney into a cottage. He was excited to get this tooth and increase his count. As he touched down on the wooden logs in the fireplace, a fuzzy paw reached out, "Ha-ha! Ho, ho, ho," a sinister grin lit up Bunny's features as he struck a match.

"Ahh!" North screamed, bursting out of the hot and blazing chimney to the cool safety of the roof.

~! #$%^][=-`

North, Sandy, Jack, and Bunny met up on a rooftop. The competition had been good fun, and they each had a large sack filled with teeth.

"Wow!" Tooth exclaimed, "You guys collect teeth and leave gifts as fast as my fairies."

The Guardians stared at one another.

Tooth surveyed their panicked looks and asked, "You guys have been leaving gifts, right?"

They were all too embarrassed to reply.

A few minutes later the faithful Guardians stood in line at a coin dispenser. They each took a turn stuffing wrinkled bills into the slot, changing cash into coins.

Then they got back to work.

North took a tooth and then put a coin and a candy cane in its place.

Bunny carried coins in his thick, fuzzy paws. He left a coin and a pair of Easter eggs on a child's bed.

Baby Tooth stuffed a heavy coin beneath a feather pillow.

Tooth left a coin for a sleeping child.

Sandy entered a house through the doggy door and then left a kid a coin.

~! #$%^][=-`

A toddler spotted the Guardians through his bedroom window, jumping from roof to roof. He was so surprised, he dropped his cup of juice.

~! #$%^][=-`

Finally the Guardians climbed back into the sleigh. Nearby, a nightmare spy watched North take up the rein. As the Guardians lifted off into the sky, the Nightmare vapourized down a street drain, slipping into the sewer.

~! #$%^][=-`

Pitch was inside his darkened lair, standing near a light-covered Globe, exactly like the one in North's Workshop. Hanging on the walls around his head were the stolen boxes of teeth. The teeth glittered in the Globe's light while Mini Fairies stared out, trapped in cages.

Pitch poked a finger at his Globe. He turned to the nightmare that was slithering into the room, "Why aren't the lights going out?"

The Nightmare let out a soft whinny.

Pitch stamped his foot angrily. If the lights weren't going out on his Globe, it meant that children still believed. His voice boomed, "They're collecting the teeth?"

The Mini Fairies began twittering at the news. Their hopeful, tiny voices echoed throughout the Lair.

Pitch swirled to face them, "Oh, pipe down," he demanded, "Or I'll stuff a pillow with you." Scowling, Pitch raised a hand and formed an image of Sandy in nightmare sand, "Fine, have your last hurrah. For tomorrow, all your pathetic scrambling will be for nothing."

Pitch crushed Sandy's image with his fist.


End file.
